Part 2 of Day 2

I didn't have to record audio during the first session, so I decided to go see a speaker from the White House Project speak about her work. The White House project teaches women how to talk about national security issues in a way that uses the right lingo. Okay, I'm sure that's not their actual line, but that's what I gathered from it. I guess a lot of women are kind of shrugged off as not knowing about national security. She was interesting but the session just kinda ran out of time before she was able to say a whole lot.

Then, Allyson Schwartz and the RNC woman came and debated. I'm going to be honest here. I was really excited to hear Allyson talk. A lot of reporters showed up and the room was packed. But I got so mad at the RNC woman that I had to get up and walk out. I know I should be able to listen to each side of an argument, but I was tired and just decided to go check out some other things. I had researched Allyson Schwartz' voting history on legislation and she has voted on some great legislation. Rumor has it that she might run for Governor of PA-- I hope so!!

Then I went to record audio for a panel session about raising money for not-for-profits and activists using new media. It was interesting to hear new people speak but I've been running around the activist world for awhile and have heard of most of the stuff. There were two things they mentioned that I'd forgotten about, which seemed like good ideas for next time.

1. First Giving
2. Ebay's "Giving Works"

I went to hear some of the Open Source panel. Then I got tired and needed to get some fresh air and went and walked around blocks of the area surrounding the Station Square that I hadn't seen before. I have a kind of hard time paying attention for long, long spans of time at conferences. I always feel bad about it because I mean, I'm only there for a couple of days. But I just find myself wandering rather a bit. Nonetheless I did listen and get a lot out of this conference.

I came back for the Closing Keynote. I'm really glad that I did, it was definitely one of the things I enjoyed most about the conference. Elisa Camahort (one of the co-founders of Blogher) facilitated a conversation with Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com (apparently it is a very popular blog) and Stephanie Klein of Greek Tragedy (also a very popular blog). They were funny and thoughtful. I need to get up to snuff on my popular blogs.

I met a young lady from the Womens E-news there. We started talking and she said I should consider writing for them. I'm interested in the opportunity. There was a party afterwards at Macy's but I was exhausted and fell asleep. Sadly, I'm not the 21 year old I used to be....or something.

All-in-all a really interesting conference. So. What came of it in terms of you folks?

First off all, when I told people that we had a Pittsburgh Women's Blogger Society they told me that that was awesome. We are so cool.

Next I spoke with Elisa Camahort about the possibility of having their Reach Out tour (not their conference) stop in Pittsburgh the next time around. She said they will be voting in the next couple of months. I think it would be a neat way to check it out. Nothing too big, just a bus that stops in and stuff. More Info Here.

And if you're not into it. That's okay. It's just a possibility.

You know what I found interesting? A lot of women's blogs were about "juggling being a mother, daughter, wife, volunteer, career woman, etc etc etc". I think that's true of some our bloggers, too.

Peace.

-Agent Ska-

P.S. All of the audio will be online in the next couple of weeks.

P.P.S. This was a neat sponsor product.

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